Pre-Solo check ride

May 18, 2009 - I met Don B. at the airport today for my pre-solo check flight with another instructor. Don instructs in the evenings and on weekends. We started as usual with a pre-flight inspection of the Diamond, then we got in and taxiied out to runway 24. There was almost no wind today, no clouds, and great visibility. I took off and headed to the north. After we got to 3000 feet, Don asked me to transition into slow flight. After a little while in slow flight we moved to power on or departure stalls. You reduce throttle, maintain altitude while the plane slows, add in one notch of flaps to the takeoff position, keep holding back pressure to maintain altitude and when you get to around 50 knots go full throttle to simulate a takeoff and continue to pull back on the stick. The nose of the plane is really high and soon the stall warning horn goes off and the plane begins to fall forward. Push the stick forward to get the nose down and establish 78 knots airspeed and begin to climb back to the original altitude. After a couple stalls, Don reduced the throttle to idle and asked me what was the first thing I would do if the engine failed. I said that I would establish a glide speed of 73 knots. The second thing I would do would be pick a proper place to land. There was a large open field off to my left so I turned and glided toward the one end of the field. We continued toward the field until we reached 2000 feet. From here Don told me to level out and maintain this altitude and fly him back to Blue Ash. We were much further east of where I had been practicing, but I saw Kings Island and the WLW tower. I headed south and when we passed the WLW tower I turn southwest to setup for the entry into the pattern. I made all the radio calls and entered the pattern but on my first landing attempt my approach was too high and too fast, I knew I would float halfway down the runway so I decided to go around. Same thing happened on the second pattern, but I did get a side slip in but it was too little, too late. I went around again. Third attempt I was setup much better on final and made a halfway decent landing. I raised the flaps to takeoff, applied full throttle and took off again. Fourth time around I made my best landing to date, it was very smooth. Took off again on another touch and go and went around for the final time. The last landing was also pretty good and I rolled to the end of the runway, turned on the taxiway, and headed back to the tie down spot for the Diamond. I felt pretty good about todays flight and Don must have too because he cleared me for my solo. I'm exited about soloing and I hope to get it in this week. I'm scheduled to go back on Thursday, so lets hope.

Back in the Air

I finally got back in the air yesterday after 17 days and I did feel rusty. The flight I had scheduled for last Friday 5/1 was scrubbed due to weather. I was scheduled to fly with Ken E. for a pre-solo checkout with another instructor. I flew yesterday with Cameron just to get back in the air and get some landing practice. I started off taking my pre-solo test and although I didn't study much, I knew most of the answers. I was able to look up the ones that I didn't know and discuss all of the questions with Cameron. The flight was just several times around the pattern. The first pass was just a standard traffic pattern to landing. There was almost no wind for the first time and the ground speed seemed much faster to me when I landed. The second pass was going to be a slip to landing with only 15 degrees of flaps. I climbed above pattern altitude and ended up too high on final and I was a little too fast when I tried the slip so the plane actually balloned up a bit. I also was not giving enough aileron and cross rudder input to be effective. I aborted the landing and went around. Third pass I was better at the slip, but I still had carried too much altitude onto final. The Diamond really wants to fly with only one notch of flaps. On the fourth pass I focused on decending at the beginning of the base turn all the way through to final. I had a good slip going on final and you can really tell when you are dropping altitude. The approach and landing were good. Today with no wind and landing with less flaps was really different, I learned that you really have to control the descent or the Diamond will just keep flying. I think I'd like to have 7 or 8 knots right down the runway each time I land.

Next week I'll be flying with Joe W. for my pre-solo checkout.

The Decision

I began in earnest to check pricing, pick my school, and decide on an instructor. I pretty much had already decided though. Blue Ash Aviation is about 5 minutes from my work if the traffic lights are red and the Diamond was the lowest cost plane out of all of the training planes that I had considered. I also felt very comfortable with Cameron when we were going though weather briefing and pre-flight prior to the introduction flight. I think that having an instructor that you feel is confident and knowledgeable and that also suits you personality is an important step. You will be spending quite a bit of time with them during the training. I think that I’ve picked a good one. AOPA has a lot of information and tips for selecting a flight school and an instructor on their website at http://flighttraining.aopa.org/learntofly/school/ . Blue Ash Aviation also had a stimulus package of their own going on. If you prepay for a block of 50 hours worth of airplane time, you get the airplane hours charged to you at a 10% discount as you use them and if you put more then $3000 on account you got an additional $150 and 30 gallons of fuel added to your account. With both of these discounts, I think I will have the best value for my training dollars. The next big thing was to get some flight training scheduled. I checked the training schedule online and was not able the find any time for the next week and a half when the Diamond, Cameron, and myself were all available. I scheduled Tuesday March 31st at 5:00 pm and Saturday April 4th at noon and it was a long week and a half wait.

Introduction Flight #2

I decided that I would stop in at Blue Ash aviation since it is very close to my work. I meet instructor Ken E. and he gave me a tour around the operation and took me out to take a look at a couple of the training planes. We looked at a Cessna 172 and a Diamond DA-20.

I already had a flight in a 172 I decided to book an introductory flight in the Diamond to see if it was too small and uncomfortable to spend my training hours in. I came back on March 3, 2009 where I meet Instructor Cameron K. for my flight. I think it was one of the coldest days of the year. After Cameron walked me through a thorough, freezing pre-flight inspection we happily climbed into the Diamond and closed the canopy. I went through the engine starting checklist and cranked the engine over. It did not want to start. We had hooked up the pre-heater to blow hot air into the engine cowl for a short time, but the pre-heater battery charge was too low to keep it running. I shut everything off for a while and when through the starting checklist again. I cranked the engine and still no start. After a few tries the A&P mechanic came over and told us to go get a coffee while he tried to get the plane started. It felt good to get inside and warm up and we discussed the lesson about how sometimes things do not go as planned and you have to adapt. A short while later the engine was running and the plane was warming up. The mechanic taxied the plane right up to the door for curb side service! Cameron and I got back into the plane, went through the start-up checklist again and fired the plane right up. I was a bit surprised when Cameron said that he would get the plane out onto the taxiway then let me take over the controls to taxi to the end of runway 6. It was a little easier to control then Flight Simulator is during taxi. When we got to the end of the taxiway, I went through the run-up checklist and prepared to depart. We make a 360 circle to check for traffic then Cameron made the radio call that we were taking off. I taxied onto the runway and pushed the throttle all the way in. The plane started to accelerate and I was surprised how easy it was to keep the plane rolling right down the middle of the runway, even though there was some cross wind. Before long we were off the ground and climbing out. I held the heading and climb rate for a while then we started a turn to the north. We leveled off and started making some gentle turns. It was a little bumpy on this flight because of the winds. We flew over the Mason and West Chester areas and I recognized some of the landmarks especially the WLW tower. It seemed like such a short time later we began to head back. Along the way we tried different throttle settings and got the feel for maintaining altitude with different power setting. As we descended to pattern altitude, I was able to spot other air traffic and could see the airport. I felt like I was very aware of my surroundings. Cameron made a radio call to report our position as we approached the traffic pattern. He asked me if I wanted to make the next call and I said I would, so he coached me on what to say. I stumbled through it a bit but I reported “Blue Ash traffic this is Diamond 107 Charlie Lima on downwind for runway 6, Blue Ash”. The radio is one thing that was a bit intimidating to me, but I think I’ll get it with no problem. Cameron made the rest of the radio calls as we landed. We made the base turn and added 1 notch of flaps. Turned a little late on final and switched flaps to the landing position. I added a little throttle as I got the plane lined up with the runway. I felt like this landing was a little more work, but I also felt that I had full control. We touched down and just rolled to near the end of the runway. Cameron said that he helped a little during the flare. The plane seemed to just track right down the center of the runway. I finally applied some brakes and turned off onto the taxiway. After the shutdown checklist items were complete, I taxied back to the planes parking spot on the ramp. Again I was thrilled and the Diamond was a joy to fly.

Introduction Flight #1

One of the most important aspects of your pilot training is researching schools and talking to prospective instructors. I began putting a list of schools together and started doing some reasearch on their web sites. I was fortunate enough to win a free introductory lesson with Empower Aviation when I filled out a sweepstakes card at their booth during the Cincinnati Travel Sport and Boat show in January 2009. On February 5th, 2009 I headed out to Butler County Regional airport (HAO) where I was met by Certified Flight Instructor Sean D. We sat in the office discussing my list of questions that I was going to ask instructors at each flight school. We went outside and after a cold pre-flight inspection of the Cessna 172 we were in and taxiing toward the runway with me in the left seat. Sean took off because the runway still had a few areas of snow on it, but I was able to follow along on the controls. We climbed to around 3000 feet and began to level off and look around. Sean talked me through making several turns at different bank angles to get the feel of the plane and through a couple climbs and descents where he had me listen to the different sounds that the plane makes. Is seems that you also use your ears to help you figure out what is happening when you are flying. After a quick 25 minutes or Sean pointed me back in the direction of the airport. I knew about where it was, but I could not see it at first. There was snow cover all over the ground it made it hard for me to pick out where the runway was. Sean made the radio calls as he directed me into the traffic pattern for landing. I flew the downwind leg and Sean added one notch of flaps, turned onto the base leg and Sean reduced the throttle and added another notch of flaps, then I turned towards the end of the runway on final were Sean worked the throttle to maintain our glide and added the last notch of flaps. The plane just sank right toward the end of the runway! The landing point stayed right in the same spot of the windshield as we descended closer and closer. When we were very near the end of the runway Sean reduced the throttle to idle and told me to just hold the controls where they were as we sank toward the runway. Finally Sean told me to start pulling back on the yoke to flare the airplane. I think he helped a bit on this because I was not sure how hard or quickly I should flare. We settled onto the runway and I was thrilled! Rolling down the runway as we slowed down was a great feeling. I did it! I just flew an airplane!
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